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I'm Not going to Lie to You... He Flew Away

I've recently started up a D&D 3.5 game based losely on the concept of Final Fantasy 6.Quick Background: A large elf nation is suddenly and systematically taking over the western countryside using "Magitek", machines that blend magic and technology not seen before in this world. The PCs must stop the elf nation's war before their army reaches the PCs' hometowns.

The PCs (10th level) are at the capitol city of Ichiro, which is like Avatar's city of Ba Sing Se.

Last session, the party Warforged Warlock decided to do something completely silly: He turned invisible and used Fell Flight to start flying west. His plan was to fly west for two days straight to find the elf army.
I don't know if there's even a step 2 to his plan yet.

His plan has two major holes--
1. He didn't tell the rest of the party where he went.
2. The elf army isn't west of the city, it's far to the south/southwest. I had given the PCs 4-5 clues that the elf army doesn't like traveling through mountains or water. Guess what two types of terrain are found west of the city?

Its a safe bet that the Warforged isn't going to find the elf army and has effectively removed himself for 4 in-game days. That is a LOT of time to be gone. I'm not sure what the other PCs will do when they realize he's missing for a while yet.
However, I was thinking-- Should I:

A) Leave the warforged PC to simply spend the 4 days finding nothing?

B) Throw a few encounters at him anyway, but ones that are suitable for a party of four 10th level PCs because I shouldn't be nice?

C) Have him find part of the army anyway, but this force has a few scouts armed with "See Invisibility" because they are expecting enemy spies to do just what he's doing. Thus when the scout spot him, they have the army mages dispel the effect and then take him down?

Re: I'm Not going to Lie to You... He Flew Away

Really it's a matter of your own DMing style. There are a few factors that play in here though. First is that, while not all that smart, the player is actually taking initative and being inventive. Which in itself is something to be encouraged. For exactly that reason, I believe his endevour should LEAD to something. Indeed, it wasn't the greatest idea and therefor shouldn't really lead to some amazing sucess. But it's a step towards independent thinking and player creativity.

Another factor is that he may drop behind in exp. which while "fair" seems a bit harsh. I strongly disslike leaving party members in the dust, making them the runt of the group. So it's probably a good idea to throw something at the guy to keep him generally the same level as the rest of the group.

Unless you want to enforce the gravity of the situation or have a far diffrent DM style than me. While he IS being inventive. It is really sort of silly, and that should also be made note of. Weather you actually dole out any punishment is largely up to you. though remember it needs to feel reasonable.

And there's also the problem of the definition of what can be done. Can he really stay invisible and flying for that long? Not to mention that there has probably been something to explain why the ENEMY hasn't flown in invisible forces into the city. Reasons he may have to encounter himself now that he tried it.

I would give you examples of what to do but... I'm honestly quite stumped and I don't know all that much about your DMing or the setting so....

But all in all. Have it lead to something. Just don't be too rewarding for something so.... well. Not all that well planned.

Re: I'm Not going to Lie to You... He Flew Away

Take the other players to another room. Tell them that an elf attack is coming in three days, and they have that much time to prepare. Tell them to make their plots and plans while you go to entertain the warlock with an epic miniquest. Have him defeat a griffon, save princess of the neighbouring kindom, finds a magic sword and negotiates with Babayaga. (Or something else that is suitably epic.) Try to do this in 30 minutes to one hour of game time.

Then bring the other players back, inform the warlock that while he was on his little sidequest, the elves attacked. Start the scene of his return from the midst of a battle.

"It's the fate of all things under the sky,
to grow old and wither and die."

Re: I'm Not going to Lie to You... He Flew Away

Find something, a dragon or some magguffin that will help against the elves.

Originally Posted by Mistwing

But all in all. Have it lead to something. Just don't be too rewarding for something so.... well. Not all that well planned.

Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet

Have him defeat a griffon, save princess of the neighbouring kindom, finds a magic sword and negotiates with Babayaga. (Or something else that is suitably epic.) Try to do this in 30 minutes to one hour of game time.

Sounds like the general consenus is to give the Warlock SOMETHING to encounter, but not something directly related to the army itself. Sounds fair.

I admit I was feeling a little "BSOD"ish about what to do because while PCs have split up the party in the past, I've never had anyone split Wildly off like this. Caught me off guard and that doesn't happen too often to me. It's a new record for the Warlock.
So thank you all for the ideas to reboot my mind. I'd ask my other players for advice, but I'm fairly certain that the fact they're all a bit annoyed with the Warlock is going to skew their response in a... well, "unfavorable way".

Maybe I could set up a fake army camp for the Warlock as a trap encounter. Something he could handle, but still challenging. Maybe leave clues there that the army isn't intending to hit "Ba Sing Se" at all, but to go around it. Would be useful info to know.

Re: I'm Not going to Lie to You... He Flew Away

I suggest throwing in a few possible encounters that he could choose to avoid. Realistically, you won't travel for 4 days without running into anything at all, but not everything he runs into needs to have see invisibility or flight.

A few non-combat encounters might be interesting as well, like finding possible allies that he could try and recruit towards the cause.

Re: I'm Not going to Lie to You... He Flew Away

He could encounter a sheltered population willing to fight for him against the elves and come crashing back into the game with his own army, Return of the King Style. Maybe they're some kind of sheltered race that decides to worship him as a god, I mean after all, he is a giant mechanical charisma-based magician.

Re: I'm Not going to Lie to You... He Flew Away

Originally Posted by Riverdance

He could encounter a sheltered population willing to fight for him against the elves and come crashing back into the game with his own army, Return of the King Style. Maybe they're some kind of sheltered race that decides to worship him as a god, I mean after all, he is a giant mechanical charisma-based magician.

This. So much this.

Revan avatar by kaptainkrutch.

Originally Posted by Cirrylius

That's how wizards beta test their new animals. If it survives Australia, it's a go. Which in hindsight explains a LOT about Australia.

Re: I'm Not going to Lie to You... He Flew Away

You might want to ask him "what makes you think the elves are over there?"

If he's flying West due to misunderstanding something you said, he may be a bit...upset...when the army's not there.

I did ask him about that for clarification.
He did indeed hear Southwest. I also mentioned the two largest clues of the bunch about how the army moves: The elves' Magitek machinery doesn't travel easily over mountains or through dense forests. I made a map to denote such terrains.

His reasoning to still fly west is that from the "Ba Sing Se" capitol, if you go due west you will eventually reach the capital of the elf empire. Since he can fly it made sense to him to go straight west by air.
Granted this is Really Bad reasoning since the elf army as a whole doesn't fly and that it'll take more than two days to reach the elf capitol.

Originally Posted by Riverdance

He could encounter a sheltered population willing to fight for him against the elves and come crashing back into the game with his own army, Return of the King Style. Maybe they're some kind of sheltered race that decides to worship him as a god, I mean after all, he is a giant mechanical charisma-based magician.

I have an idea of an encounter like this, but I am hoping to have the entire party encounter it because the Warforged Warlock player by himself would most likely not take advantage of this opportunity. He prefers to be a scout/spy most of the time, hiding in the shadows or flying invisibally.

Re: I'm Not going to Lie to You... He Flew Away

By the way, this flying armored cyborg thing who can shoot energy blasts, he wouldn't happen to be imitating anyone? Because I strongly suggest you make him face a big evil dragon and vaguely oriental villain with ten magic rings and great karate skills.

"It's the fate of all things under the sky,
to grow old and wither and die."

Re: I'm Not going to Lie to You... He Flew Away

Keep in mind he can travel quite a bit farther in two days than an army can travel in a month. He is cooking at almost 500 miles a day. Unless he is adamantine laced in which case he is still rocking more than 300 miles a day. In perspective, he could get to NYC from Miami in under two days easily.

Re: I'm Not going to Lie to You... He Flew Away

Originally Posted by KillianHawkeye

If the enemy is attacking with magitek, shouldn't the warforged all be on their side?

Along these lines... If they're sufficiently advanced in Magitek, they could reprogram him like Terra with the slave crown. Rather then coming back with the cavalry, he's leading the offensive against the other players.

Re: I'm Not going to Lie to You... He Flew Away

Originally Posted by Riverdance

He could encounter a sheltered population willing to fight for him against the elves and come crashing back into the game with his own army, Return of the King Style. Maybe they're some kind of sheltered race that decides to worship him as a god, I mean after all, he is a giant mechanical charisma-based magician.

Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet

Have him defeat a griffon, save princess of the neighbouring kindom, finds a magic sword and negotiates with Babayaga. (Or something else that is suitably epic.) Try to do this in 30 minutes to one hour of game time.

Best ideas here. Both are fun, although I prefer the second (maybe schedule a day just for that player).

Re: I'm Not going to Lie to You... He Flew Away

Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet

By the way, this flying armored cyborg thing who can shoot energy blasts, he wouldn't happen to be imitating anyone? Because I strongly suggest you make him face a big evil dragon and vaguely oriental villain with ten magic rings and great karate skills.

Hahaha
Funny thing is that a joke about him getting a Red/Gold paint job did come up in the last session. Though the popular nickname the party has for him is Dr. Doom due to his style of "people skills".

Originally Posted by KillianHawkeye

If the enemy is attacking with magitek, shouldn't the warforged all be on their side?

Most Warforged are, but a few have escaped conscription. The party met one who was a miner in another town, but didn't ask him any questions. A pity, missed a chance for some possible insight on this war.

Re: I'm Not going to Lie to You... He Flew Away

When were you intending for the enemy army to arrive? How far away is the enemy city? Does the enemy army have flying scouts of its own?

If Dr. Doom flies west for 48 straight hours, he'll cover over 300 miles. The enemy army, by contrast is at least a couple of weeks away. Do any of the players care if you just let 4 days pass uneventfully? Is it possible Dr. Doom will run into a squadron of enemy flyers long before he gets two days out?

Re: I'm Not going to Lie to You... He Flew Away

To avoid bitching and conflicts, just pull the player aside and tell him that leaving the party behind on a blind run is not a good idea, and he may remain off the main game. I had to do it when a newbie in my game decided he wanted to go to the opposite way of where everyone was going. I flat out told him I didn't have a solo plot or even time to do it, and he'd have to sit and watch the rest of the players for 2-3 hours, doing nothing.

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Re: I'm Not going to Lie to You... He Flew Away

Originally Posted by Sebastrd

When were you intending for the enemy army to arrive? How far away is the enemy city? Does the enemy army have flying scouts of its own?

The enemy army's plan are not to attack this grand city (We'll call it Ba Sing Se for clarity) for another 2-3 months. They want to build up more resources, weapons, soldiers, etc. so that their seige would have the best chance of success.
The enemy army also wants to seek out the smaller towns around Ba Sing Se that feed resources into this capitol. Each small town sacked means one less town giving Ba Sing Se resources for its defense.

The idea here is the players can make a difference by employing similar tactics, taking out enemy supply lines, help evacuate undefended towns back to Ba Sing Se, and negotiate alliances with other cities that thus far remain largely neutral during the conflict.

Now that I think about it, there's a but of inspiration drawn from "The Red Hand of Doom" here, even though I never played that module.

The distance between Ba Sing Se and the enemy capitol is 650 miles. There is a mountain range between them so unless you can fly you will have to go around it either to the North or to the South. The enemy army choose to go south and around because there are more farms in that direction (and thus, more food to sack and collect). So our flying Warforged Warlock will at worst encounter an enemy spy or scout surveying the land.

Both sides of the war have flying scouts, wizards, etc. They are valuable units and hard to come by, so both sides use them carefully. Magitek is a powerful weapon, but takes time and resources to make, so everything this army does is planned out and prepared.
This is a nice contrast to my players who are much more spontaneous and random.

Re: I'm Not going to Lie to You... He Flew Away

Well, if this is a siege situation, then maybe the warlock finds an isolated but bountiful farming village in the mountains, near a pass that could be used as an easily-defendable supply route? Then he has a chance to gain a crucial strategic ally for Ba Sing Se, though it will likely take some serious convincing.

Or maybe he finds the secret construction site where the enemy is building a giant drill.

Revan avatar by kaptainkrutch.

Originally Posted by Cirrylius

That's how wizards beta test their new animals. If it survives Australia, it's a go. Which in hindsight explains a LOT about Australia.